The Pursuit of Victory
by TheShantorian
Summary: After Kagami missed practice three times in a single week, Hyuga, Kiyoshi, and Riko concocted a plan to find out why their Ace had been absent, and to make a fool out of him while doing so.


The Pursuit of Victory

Hyuga Junpei was certain that Kagami Taiga would've been at basketball practice the night before, considering the numerous text messages and in-person notifications he'd given Kagami throughout the day.

After missing two other practices that week without missing a single class, the seniors of the basketball team couldn't fathom why Kagami would continue to neglect practices. The entire team was aware of his intense drive to be the best, his undying motivation, and his general love of the game. Taking all of that into consideration, the team found Kagami's absences to be highly worrisome, and downright annoying.

Even Kuroko Tetsuya, Kagami's closest friend on the team, didn't know why Kagami was missing practice.

The team always had a tough time of finding a steady rhythm during practices where a player was away, though in those cases, said player usually had a legitimate reason for not attending. This wasn't the case with Kagami.

Hyuga, his fellow senior Kiyoshi Teppei, and the coach of Seirin's basketball team, Aida Riko, had made a great effort to ensure that Kagami attended practice the day before. They hounded him as he arrived to school, ganged up on him between classes, and even dragged him from the cafeteria before he could by lunch. They bombarded his phone with voicemails and text messages, some reminding him to be at practice, others demanding an explanation as to why he'd been away in the first place. Kagami refused to reply with anything more than a simple, "Okay."

When the time for practice rolled around, everybody was absolutely positive that Kagami would be at there. The team got into the clothes they usually practiced in and began getting out equipment. Five minutes passed, and Kagami didn't show up.

The team understood that Kagami was occasionally late, but not by more than a few minutes. He'd be there soon.

Fifteen minutes went by, and there was still no sign of Kagami. Kiyoshi, Hyuga, and Riko all called his phone, but their calls went straight to voicemail.

"What the hell is he thinking?" Hyuga grumbled, glaring at the screen of his phone.

Kiyoshi attempted to console him while harboring a growing sense of doubt in Kagami. For him to miss three practices in one week was incredibly out of line.

"Well," Hyuga said, his glasses glinting menacingly under the gymnasium lights, "If he won't willingly tell us why he's skipping, we'll just have to force it out him."

Kiyoshi, after catching one of the basketballs that was tossed towards him, came closer to Hyuga, the ball tucked under his arm. "What do you mean?"

Hyuga smirked, his head tilting downwards, shadowing his features hauntingly as he moved out of the light. "Don't worry," he began, "Kagami won't miss another practice after tomorrow."

* * *

It was pleasantly warm the next day. The sun was bright, but not overbearing, which allowed for Kagami's walk to school to be quite comfortable. The wind was slightly chilly, but not extremely so. It balanced the sun's heat perfectly, tousling Kagami's rouge hair as he strolled down the sidewalk.

He held a bottle of water in his right hand, the fingers of his left curled around the strap of his messenger bag. The air smelled of aged nectar, the way the late spring season should. The scent of flowers and leaves of plants that had long since settled into the warm weather laced the breeze that Kagami encountered. He had in his headphones, listening to upbeat, energetic music as he made his way to school. He took a small sip from his water bottle, enjoying his walk thoroughly.

He reached Seirin High fifteen minutes before class, not wanting to be late for the test he had first period. He knew if he didn't succeed on this test, he'd eventually end up failing through the rest of the semester until midterms, which meant he wouldn't be able to play in any major basketball games. That reason pushed him to be on time for his test, and to set aside everything else that would get in his way. He was never usually so focused on his studies, but after the last nightmarish cram session he was forced into as a result of his poor grades, he couldn't allow himself to fall behind again, even if it meant staying home and studying instead of joining the team for practice.

Kagami took his seat near the window, dropping his bag onto his desk. With his headphones still blaring his music at full volume, he began to rifle through his books, looking for the materials he needed for the test.

Because he couldn't hear more than the sound of his own jacket crinkling as he moved, Kagami failed to notice Hyuga Junpei, Kiyoshi Teppei and Aida Riko in the doorway, all busy setting up their scheme to find out why Kagami hadn't been at practice for so long.

Hyuga learned that Kagami's classroom was located in the ideal spot for his plan to take place. The doorway to Kagami's classroom led down a long hallway with a set of double doors in the middle, and a single right turn at the end, giving Hyuga, Kiyoshi, and Riko an easy escape route if things didn't go as expected, as well as the best spot to set up their trap.

Upon locating the materials he needed, Kagami gently set his bag on the floor. He turned to his notes and began to review.

Kagami's attention was solely directed towards his work, so he didn't notice Hyuga and Kiyoshi sneak into his classroom. He didn't hear Kiyoshi giggling as he stood at the back of the class, taking out his cell phone while he set it to record. Kagami couldn't make out Hyuga's footsteps as the captain of the Seirin basketball team crept up behind him, a devious glimmer in his eyes.

Hyuga, standing directly behind Kagami, grabbed onto the back rest of Kagami's seat. He made sure to do it in such a way that Kagami wouldn't feel Hyuga's fingers through the back of his uniform.

His fingers firmly latched onto the chair, Hyuga looked over at Kiyoshi, who nodded to the captain, indicating that the camera was recording.

With that, Hyuga used all of the strength he had in his body to pull the chair out from under Kagami.

Kagami crashed to the floor, his bottom slamming into the hard tiles below. He let out an angry, startled cry as he hit the ground, his limbs instinctively scrambling to get himself up.

Kagami tore his headphones from his ears, throwing them, as well as his phone, at his bag. His head whipped from side to side, wondering and searching for the absolute dick that had done this.

He spotted Hyuga near the doorway of his class, screaming, "Hey!" as he saw Hyuga bolt from the classroom.

Kagami roared furiously as he sprinted after Hyuga, Kiyoshi running after Kagami as he tried to get the chase on camera.

Kagami knew he probably shouldn't have been chasing a senior student around the school, but his focus had been broken, and he was quite unhappy about that. He'd sacrificed practice for this test, and he wasn't about to let someone, his senior or not, his captain or not, ruin things for him now.

Hyuga darted down the hallway, leading Kagami to the set of double doors, one of which had been conveniently propped open. Kagami was willing to bet that another Seirin player was holding it open.

 _What the hell are they up to?_ Kagami thought to himself.

Hyuga crossed through the open door, ducking slightly as he did, but Kagami didn't think much of it. He sped up, trying to gain on his captain.

As Kagami flew through the doorway, he didn't duck like Hyuga had. Instead, his ran through the doorway normally, and so failed to see the wide strip of clear plastic wrap that Hyuga, Kiyoshi, and Riko had secured across the doorway at the height of Kagami's head.

The moment Kagami came to the doorway, his face abruptly made contact with the tightly pulled plastic wrap, the force of his impact flipping him onto his back as the plastic wrap tore.

He immediately tried to stop himself from falling, but could only succeed in turning himself around which further offset his balance, and essentially threw him back-first into the hallway where Hyuga had fled to.

It wasn't until he'd landed that he saw Riko standing just a few feet away, cackling loudly as she captured the whole ordeal on her phone.

"Kagami," she wheezed, "How are you this gullible?"

Kagami, moaning in pain from falling twice in such a short period of time, disregarded his coach as he carefully moved into a sitting position, peeling the shredded plastic wrap from his face.

"Hyuga-senpai!" Kagami screeched, his voice cracking with confusion and rage. Kagami shakily got to his feet, leaning on the doorframe for support as the turned to face his captain.

Hyuga was standing behind him with Riko just to his left, her eyes directed at her phone.

Kagami's face contorted into a snarl. "What the hell was all that for?" He threw his arm back, gesturing to the classroom he'd been in only seconds before. "I have a test in like ten minutes!"

Hyuga put his hands on his hips. "Why haven't you been coming to practice all week?"

Kagami's expression softened. "Ah…"

Kiyoshi took that opportunity to slip between Kagami's shoulder and the doorframe to join Riko in overlooking the footage they'd taken.

Hyuga approached Kagami, his features relaxed. He didn't seem upset with Kagami, but his obvious concern as a captain, and as a senior student, was evident.

Kagami timidly scratched his jawline with his index finger. He looked away before answering.

"It was that test…" Kagami stared at the wall to his right.

Hyuga blinked. "Say again?"

Kagami looked back at his captain. "I have a very important test today, and I chose to study for it. That's, eh… That's why I've been away…"

Hyuga stared at Kagami for about ten seconds before erupting into a fit of violent laughter.

Kagami's anger returned. "E-Eh, why are you laughing at me?!"

Hyuga seemed to laugh harder. Riko and Kiyoshi were chortling behind the screens of their phones, trying to hide from Kagami.

"I can see you guys laughing, you know!" Kagami pointed at Kiyoshi and Riko.

"Kagami," Hyuga said, his laughter dying down, "I just find it unbelievable that _you_ gave up practice just to study." Hyuga shook his head, grinning. "You're changing."

Kagami stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck bashfully. "I just didn't want to miss another game because of my grades…" Kagami's voice grew softer as he spoke.

Hyuga came to Kagami's side, smiling like a proud parent would at their child. Standing next to Kagami, he brought his palm down on to the top of Kagami's head, causing Kagami's knees to buckle. Kagami didn't collapse, but he hunched himself over at the intense pressure his captain was placing on his skull. He cried out various protests, all of which were ignored.

"You'd better ace this test, you hear me?" Hyuga commanded. "You missed a lot of practice for it, so you'd better not let us down."

Kagami, though being drilled by the crushing weight of his captain's hand pressing against his head, found himself smiling.

"I'll do my best," he assured Hyuga.

Hyuga nodded approvingly, releasing Kagami from under his hand. "Well, we're," he tipped his head towards Kiyoshi and Riko, "going to go edit the footage we took of you just now, and you can bet your ass that we're showing it to the team at practice tonight," Hyuga stepped threateningly close to Kagami, "which you'd better be at."

Kagami put his hands up in a show of surrender. "I'll be there for sure."

Just then, the bell indicating that classes would begin momentarily rang.

Hyuga turned to leave. He looked over his shoulder at Kagami as he left.

"Give it your all, Kagami!" he called as he left the hallway. "Seirin, fight!"

Standing alone with the remains of the plastic wrap barrier scattered around his feet, Kagami's eyebrows drew together, his lips parting as he grinned.

 _I'll do my best, captain,_ Kagami pledged, _and I'll see you all tonight._

Kagami Taiga turned on his heel, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants, knowing that no matter what, he would make his team proud.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Hello there! I realize that I've been inactive for a very long time, but school tends to get in the way of things like this. I've added a bit to my profile with the statuses of my stories, so keep an eye on that with regards to the whereabouts of any of my fics. This particular one-shot was inspired by a Vine I saw a while back. I can post a link to it if you wish to see it. The cover for this story was drawn by me (mainly because I just wanted to make a fanart of Kagami).

Thank you so much for taking the time to check out this story! See you soon!

-Shan


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